Rehabilitation of water treatment plants after oil spill estimated at N$32 million

The City of Windhoek assured the public that Windhoek’s water is healthy and fit for consumption, at a press conference earlier this week to update the public regarding the effects of the oil spill that occurred at the Namibia Dairies plant in Avis last week.

The incident resulted in the shutdown of both the Gammams Waste Water Treatment Plant and the new Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant.

The Chief Executive of the City of Windhoek, Robert Kahimise said the 18,000 litres of water mixed with oil was cleaned, removed and disposed of at Kupferberg landfill site.

Kahimise said based on an assessment of the total damage and proposed relevant rehabilitation done from an oil spill expert from South Africa, a total of N$32 million was quoted for rehabilitation over a time frame of two months to clean the affected reticulation system.

“The cleaning of the contaminated section of the Gammams plant might be completed by 17 February, which involves the emptying of all primary settling tanks and the treatment of the oil contaminated surfaces in channels, tanks and pond, therefore the Plant operations will start when the clean-up process is complete and will first be flushed followed by production of semi-purified water for a period until it can handle the effluent, which is believed will have reduced pollutants,” said Kahimise.

Meanwhile Kahimise assured Windhoek residents that the incident is receiving the proper attention to ensure that the normal operation of the affected plants can be resumed.

“It is important to emphasise that no water reclamation is currently taking place and thus no contamination in the potable water as well as the aquifer laying mostly on the southern part of Windhoek,” he concluded.